Similar Tendency to Strain-Induced Martensite Transformation in Different Austenitic Stainless Steels

The formation of strain-induced martensite in metastable austenitic stainless steels depends on many parameters; the most well known and highly investigated of these is temperature. In this work, we suggest a new relationship between Md30/50, deformation temperature (DT), and martensite content based on data gathered from other studies and our experimental findings. For this purpose we rolled an AISI 304L stainless steel in different strains at 25°C, 0°C, and −15°C; then we characterized the steel via x-ray diffraction and Ferritescope studies to identify different phases and calculate their contents. According to the results, the relationship is as follows: If the delta value (DT − Md30/50) is the same for different austenitic stainless steels, they will form equal amounts of martensite under similar strain conditions. Moreover, both the delta value and the true strain have a strong effect on the formation of martensite.